We're a family of readers.Meeting the most interesting people.Reading Romance, Contemp, Chick Lit & Erotica. Some can sizzle your blood. My hubby will be writing on Hist., Sports, & Mystery. My daughter on YA.What type of genres do you enjoy?Some good author interviews coming. We're on Twitter:@1RadReader59 Instagram:@1radreader and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/booksreviewedauthorstoo/. Enjoy reading, we will.

Andie
Marks, known as “Party Girl” in her college days, is now a whip-smart lawyer on
the fast track to success. Determined to move on from a bad break-up, she joins
her girlfriends for a wild bachelorette weekend in Las Vegas, promising to let
her hair down just this once. Vegas is a blur of cocktails and blackjack, and
in the middle of it all she meets Mack, a real-life cowboy with a winning hand
and an irresistible body. They get lucky in the casino and luckier back at the
hotel, a hot night of passion that was definitely not part of Andie’s life
plan. By dawn Mack is gone and all she has to remember their one-night romance
is a hangover and a pile of casino chips. Or so she thinks…

Rad-Reader:
How did you come up with your storyline?

Elle: I
went on a trip to Scotland and the Isle of Skye a few years ago, for my
daughter Skye’s 16th birthday, and I learned about the MacKenzie clan there.
When I saw their motto Luceo Non Uro (I shine not burn), I knew I was going to
write a romance with that in there somehow. Some of what you see in Shine Not
Burn is a mix of my own personal experiences (I was a lawyer in West Palm
Beach, my first husband is a cowboy from Baker City, Oregon) but otherwise it’s
just completely made up. I have characters in my head and they write the story
for me. I just take dictation!

Rad-Reader:
I noticed you didn’t give Andie the obvious gift (baby) that most girls who
would take it as far as she did and especially with being so drunk to black out
why?

Elle: I
didn’t have Andie end up pregnant because to me, that’s an overdone storyline.
I wanted to make it less predictable, I guess you could say. You were expecting
it, though, weren’t ya? :)

Rad-Reader:
Mack knows more about Andie then she does about him. What made you not have
Mack not track her down? In the end, how it was all played out, I was
frustrated I have to say.

Elle: Mack is a
patient man who deals with what he feels is rejection by walking away. That
doesn’t mean he shuts his emotions off, though. When Andie never contacted him,
he took that as confirmation that she wasn’t interested in following through
with a real marriage … at least not at that point. But being that they were
married, he knew she’d have to come back eventually. I also believe the
marriage allowed him to remain distant from all the women who were after him in
Baker City. He’d found the woman of his dreams and he wasn’t going to settle
for anything less. He was also working on creating a career and life for
himself and his eventual family. A man living at home with his parents on a
ranch isn’t exactly doing that. But eventually, when he was ready financially,
he would be able to buy his own place and be ready for a wife and family. When
Andie showed up years later, he was in a much better position to provide her a
home.

Rad-Reader:
What made you allow Andie to continue to have a backbone to come home and get
rid of Luke the “Puke” as Ruby called him.

Elle: Actually it was Bradley that Andie got rid of. Luke
dumped Andie at the beginning of the story when she was on her way to Vegas,
and she was sad about it. She didn’t have much backbone then, really. If you
recall, one of his gifts to her was something designed to change her
appearance, but she didn’t break up with him over that! But I think love from
her man Mack and her friends and her new family helped her finally get the
backbone she needed to make the right decision and follow her heart.

Rad-Reader:
Why did Andie keep picking guys that the people she said she loved the most
hated, especially when she had no family to speak of?

Elle: Because she’s a normal girl who does stupid things
like go out with the wrong guy. I myself was guilty of doing that plenty of
times (too many times to count!) and so are many other women. I think we’re
guilty of hanging onto bad guys because we see their potential but not who they
really are … which is very wrong for us!

Rad-Reader:
Then when she does get back she is willing to give up her friendship with Kelly
and Candice as well as Ruby for the new guy she’s dating. Why?

Elle: Girls
do that all the time. I suppose it’s because they take their friendships for
granted and don’t value them as they should. And maybe some girls are just a
little too desperate for love from a man, so they sacrifice too much to get it.
I have seen in reviews that some readers don’t like these aspects of the story,
but for me, they are very true to life. I have experienced these faults Andie
has both personally and through watching friends and family. Perfectly
intelligent women make terrible decisions involving men every day. For me, it’s
important that my books have real women in them. Imperfect, but lovable and
intelligent.

Rad-Reader:
Do you know anyone like this who keeps going in a circle, relationship wise
that may have given you some insight to these characters state of mind?

Elle: Sure.
I did it for years! Don’t we all at some point? Well, most of us, anyway. I’ve
met maybe two women in my life who didn’t make mistakes with men.

Rad-Reader:
Mack was willing to allow his brother to be unhappy without telling him the
whole truth or did his brother know? Especially when Andie showed up at
the ranch.

Elle: Mack
is not a “sharer”. He’s also not a coddler. He and his brother have a
relationship like many men do, where they just let things go and don’t talk
about things that are bothering them. I think those two would probably rather
wrestle one another than have a meaningful conversation. Recall that when Ian
was begging Mack to go to his bachelor party, Mack kept insisting he was too
busy, all the way until he showed up at it. He had to man up and deal with his
heartbreak with Andie, so I’m sure he expected his brother to do the same.
That’s life on a ranch … you’ve gotta be tough!

Rad-Reader:
Had his mom caught on right away that Andie was more to Mack than just a person
doing the family genealogy research? If not when do you think she caught on?

Elle: It’s
hard to say. Maeve kept her cards pretty close to her chest, but I’d say a mom
just knows some things. She knew something happened in Vegas to fundamentally
change both her boys. Then this woman shows up out of nowhere and is very
curious about their family. I think she had her suspicions, but like a smart
mom, she sat back and let things play out, giving little bits of advice where
needed but not getting nosy.

Rad-Reader:
Loved the Casino scene. How did you come up with the whole table scene?
Because that would so be me.

Elle: I’ve
played blackjack in Vegas and Reno a few times, and the first couple times, I
was like Andie. A mess! My husband taught me how to be cool after I embarrassed
myself. He thought I was cute, though, so it turned out okay.

Rad-Reader:
What song reminds you of Shine, Not Burn or best describes it?

Elle:
There is no song, but the Scottish
Highlands remind me of the story. Mostly because of the men who came from
there, the way the families there worked so hard and dealt with tough climates
and so on. The Scots are great people, much like Mack’s family is.

Rad-Reader:
What does Shine, Not Burn mean?

Elle: As
Mack says, “it means that I have a choice. I need to balance the good with the
bad, make sure to avoid the things that could burn or scar me but get close
enough to the heat that I feel life and really experience it.”

Rad-Reader:
Where can our readers find you? Website, etc…

Elle: The best place to start is my website,
www.ElleCasey.com. You can also find me on social media:
www.Facebook.com/ellecaseytheauthor and www.Twitter.com/ellecasey.

Rad-Reader:
What do you have coming out next? When?

Elle: My
next release is Wrong Number, Right
Guy, Book 1 in a 3-book contemporary
romance series called Bourbon Street Boys.
Wrong Number, Right Guy comes out in
ebook, paperback and audiobook on September
22nd. Readers can pre-order their copy
on Amazon. Here’s the link: http://amazon.com/dp/B00VJ4IDVY/

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This is a Family Blog. We leave reviews on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest & Net Galley

Still figuring this out guys thanks for sticking it out with us. I am lucky to be able to read interesting books,write reviews,post on Net Galley, Amazon, Facebook & Goodreads. In my spare time I will now be blogging as well as being a Mom,Wife &running a small busniss. My daughter who is an advanced 12 yr. old will review YA books. My husband will review History, Sports & Mystery.

LET’S WELCOME ANDY PELOQUIN AUTHOR OF: Rad-Reader: What was your inspiration for the character the Hunter? Andy: It al...

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